The North

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Transcript of The North

By Adrian Taddei Ahmik Parakal Cameron BinnotoErik Mcdonald The North Physiographic Characteristics Location The North is located in Northern Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the skirts of northern Manitoba and Ontario Vegetation Trees and most plants can not grow in the north due to the cold, dry climate and the permafrost (permanently frozen soil)The only vegetation that can grow in the North are mosses and lichens because they cling to ground to absorb warmth and moisture -The land in the Arctic is mainly flat

-The permafrost is melting due to temperature increases caused by global warming which is turning parts of the North into swamps

-Mountains are covered by glaciers Topography Climate -Winter is very cold, dry and last for around 10 mouths -Summers are cool and short-Winter temperatures range between -40 degrees Celsius to 0 degrees Celsius -Summer Temperatures range between -10 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius-The arctic receives an average 50cm (20in) of precipitation throughout the year. -Most of the precipitation appears in the form of snow due to the long, cold winter season. -Little exploration for resources had occurred in the north in previous years due to the North being a remote area and the climate being intensively cold-Global warming has caused for the average temperature in the North to increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius in past 40 years

-Due to this increase in temperature sea ice in the Arctic is melting, shrinking in size and is getting thinner at an alarming rate.

-This is causing the Northwest Passage to open up which is increasing access to offshore oil, gas resources, metals that can be mined such as gold, silver, copper, radium, zinc and diamonds. Climate Leading to Economic Opportunity -The increase access to resources in the Northwest Passage is a great opportunity to make an enormous profit through exploration, extraction and selling of oil, gas resources, metals and diamonds from the North.

-These resources are very profitable because they are extremely high in demand all over the world which means that these products will sell for high prices and at a fast rate

For example: -Oil currently is worth $114 dollars per a barrel. While the world consumes 8.9 million barrels of oil per day- A Diamond can cost anywhere between $500 to $60,000 depending on the size and quality of the diamond- Gold currently cost about$1900 per ounce Profit Opportunities Profit Opportunites -The Northwest Passage has not been used as a shipping route in the past due to the Arctic Ocean being impassable a majority of the year.

-Since the Northwest Passage is opening, ships now have access through the Arctic waters

-This will allow the ability for ships to transport oil and other resources from the extraction areas to markets overseas.

-This will cause a reduction in the need for and decrease construction cost of pipelines because the ships will have easier access through the Arctic Ocean year round.

-In the past massive pipelines that were built in the North have cost billions of dollars to construct. Therefore there will be substantial savings. -In order to obtain Government approval for various projects, job creation must be a consideration in the North

-Historically, the territories have relied heavily on government funding since employment opportunities in the North is limited. However, this will decrease once the territories become more self sustaining.

-The people in the North will become more self sustaining as more employment opportunities emerge from construction projects such as building roads, buildings, and jobs created by mining, oil and gas projects

-Where needed, construction and maintenance of pipelines will also provide hundreds of people with jobs for up to 20 years Job Creation Opportunities -The possibility of an oil spill is imminent.

-If there is an oil spill in the Arctic, thousands of barrels of oil will be spilled into the Arctic Ocean

-The spilled oil would kill and contaminate marine life such as orcas, sea otters, plankton, clams and sea birds.

-The clean up of an oil spill can cost up to 2 billion dollars and take several years to complete

-The law states that the owners of a ship that spills oil will have to pay $1,200 for every ton oil spilled

-An example of an oil spill that occurred in the Arctic in 1989 was an Exxon Valdez oil company ship that ran aground at Prince William Sound in Alaska-The oil spill impacted 1,300 miles of ocean -It took the company four years to clean up the spill-Exxon Valdez spent about $2.1 billion on the clean up-2,800 sea otters and 250,000 seabirds were killed by the spill

-Overall, an oil spill could cause great devastation to the companies' profits and reputation Risks of an Oil Spill -Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area.

-Initially no northern country has sovereignty over the natural resources in the Arctic Ocean.

-Since the Northwest Passage opened and now there is access to the off shore natural resources in the Arctic Ocean, which has caused a conflict between Denmark, Russia, U.S.A., Norway and Canada. These countries are all trying to gain sovereignty over the arctic waters and the resources in them.

-These countries all have the ability to extend sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean because their geographic locations all encompass the Arctic Ocean.

-A major risk to investments in projects for exploration and extraction of natural resources could come to a standstill, due to the fact that other counties other than Canada may gains sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean and its resources. If this happened, then Canadian projects would not have further authorization for exploration or extraction of resources in the Arctic waters.

-This will negatively effect Canadian investment in the north because all opportunities to profit in the north would come to an end. Risk of Sovereignty Overall Benifits -The Beneficial aspects about the North are :

-This region has a selection of abundant resources that are expensive, high demand products that will generate an enormous profit

-Since the Northwest Passage is open for longer durations of the year, resources can be transported from extraction areas to markets overseas which will save billions of dollars on construction of massive pipelines

-Job opportunities for people in the north will increase by the construction of roads, infrastructure and by gas, oil and mining projects which will help gain government approval for project The Risks involved with investing in the North are :

-If there is an oil spill, the environmental harm and money spent on clean-up of the spill will ruin the company’s reputation, thus decreasing profits

-If another country other than Canada gains sovereignty over the Arctic waters and the resources that they contain, any investment put in projects in the North will come to a standstill and no further profit will be able to be made Overall Risks The resource that has the most potential and is most recommended to invest in is the oil because:

-Oil is very abundant in the North

-Is at high demand(8.9 million barrels are sold each day)

-The price of oil is expensive(cost $114 a barrels

-The amount of money that could be lost due to an oil spill can be made back very quickly The Resource with the most potential Arctic during Winter Arctic during Winter